


Personal Interludes

by Christy (wildchild)



Series: Alissa's Interests [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Highlander: The Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-10
Updated: 2013-06-10
Packaged: 2017-12-14 12:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildchild/pseuds/Christy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Alissa came about in time</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The End of the Beginning

**Title** : The End of the Beginning  
 **Author** : Christy  
 **Rating** : FR15  
 **Disclaimer** : I do not own any of these series....I'm just borrowing the situation for a bit.  I may not own the series that Alissa filters through, but the concept of her is something I came up with  
 **Genre** : Gen/AU  
 **Fandoms** : Star Trek/Highlander/Angel  
 **Series** : Personal Interludes #1  
 **Word Count** : 1074  
 **Timeline** : Right after “Encounter at Farpoint”  
 **Written For** : crossover100 Q prompts  
 **Prompt** : 1- Beginnings  
 **Summary** : The end results of the initial voyage of the _Enterprise_  
 **Author's Note** : While editing some of my other stories, I found some more detailed versions of my PI series, and decided to merge both writings into one chapter per, so please reread- this is a LOT more detailed than the initial first couple chapters, and hopefully you'll understand the background of Alissa a bit better.  
  
  
 _The Diary of Alissa Nicole Troi, Stardate 41153.7:_  
  
I'm trying to get the hang of doing this sort of thing. The computers of this time period are way more advanced than the stuff I used to have at home. When I woke up last week, if you'd told me I would be more than three and half centuries in the future now, I'd have thought you were crazy. Now, I think I'm going out of my mind. I find out my parents are dead, I can't go back, and that I'm a full-blooded telepath! What next? Super powers?!?  
  
Just then, Alissa looked out her cabin window to see a grid envelop the sides of the spaceship _No, the Enterprise_ just before she vanished in a flash of light.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Captain Jean-Luc Picard glared at this invading presence on his bridge. His ship had been on its way to Farpoint Station, already behind schedule for having to rescue Alissa Pierce when an impassable grid appeared in from of them, and this being, who called himself Q, had appeared.  
  
"You are notified that your kind has infiltrated the galaxy too far already. You are directed to return to your own solar system immediately," he said with a sneer.  
  
Angry at being instructed as to what to do from an as yet unknown race, Picard replied. "We are simply explorers in a-"  
  
"Yes, yes, you seek to find new life and worlds. Can't you come up with something new? But, suppose it turns out we understand you humans only too well?"  
  
"We've no fear of what the true facts about us will reveal."  
  
"The facts about you? Splendid, splendid! You are a veritable fountain of good ideas, Captain. So let’s proceed exactly as you suggest!"  
  
And, with a great flash of light, Q, Troi, Tasha, Data, and Picard all vanished.  
  
*****  
  
When Picard could see again, he saw a screaming, jeering, filthy crowd surrounding the four Starfleet officers. Coming towards them out of the darkness was Q, dressed like a judge circa mid 21st century.  
  
"Historically intriguing, Captain. Very, very accurate," Data commented, looking around.  
  
Picard nodded in response, "Mid-21st Century, the post-atomic horror."  
  
Q, looking down at them from his great heightened chair, intoned, "The prisoners will not be harmed...Until they are found guilty, of course."  
  
"You are putting us on trial- and for what?"  
  
"For being judged a savage, child-like race. There are other, more worthy races, and room must be made for them."  
  
Picard scoffed. "So, that's why you put us in a post-atomic court of horrors, where 'kill the lawyers' was taken quite literally?"  
  
Q waved his hand at the crowd for illustration. "Why do you think we of the Continuum see you as a savage, vile race? You have had your Hitlers, your Khan Noonien Singhs, and your Colonel Greens. How you managed to survive this long is a miracle."  
  
"So, you are saying there are no redeeming qualities about our race at all?"  
  
"Oh, but I think there just might be," Q said with a smirk and a snap of his fingers.  
  
When the light cleared, Deanna rushed over to her adopted daughter, who looked around her in shock and fear. "Q! What kind of evil joke is this that you would do this to this child?" Deanna raged. "She's not even of this time! She has no idea what she's seeing. The-"  
  
"Your precious Prime Directive has less impact on her than anyone. But, Picard, you have asked, and I say that she is part of your answer. She is one of your few redeeming qualities IF things go correctly. However, remember that we will still be watching you."  
  
And, without further ado, the 21st century courtroom vanished, and they were all back on the Enterprise.  
  
 _This is going to be an interesting voyage,_ was all Alissa could think to Deanna through her shock.  
  
******  
  
The initial status reports were starting to come in from the _Enterprise_. No one except those with the kind of clearance needed for this specific kind of mission even got to read the full report. The maiden voyage of the _Enterprise D_ was a lot more complicated than most of Starfleet, let alone civilians knew. Most of the lowest in the chain of command would know about the discovery at Farpoint Station. Some higher up would have been notified about the encounter the crew made with the being known as Q. But only a select few knew about the background of a scared 15 year old human telepath by the name of Alissa Pierce, who pulled out of the 20th century solely due to some high energy negotiations with high ranking officials to even allow the _Enterprise_ to use the Guardian of Forever to get her out and most of that had been based on one newspaper article and its accompanying photographs. A yellowed copy of both sat in front of the brunette who was currently staring out of her windows in New York and brooding. She looked up as the door chimed, hoping that he’d show up before she left. Pressing the button that opened the door, she motioned her visitor in, centuries of instinct silencing the habitual “Enter”. “So this is when you popped in from after going back the first time?” Angel asked her with no preamble.  
  
Alissa rubbed her temples, already feeling a headache brewing. “Something like that. The me from now, er, the earlier, 20th century me, has six years of experiences to go through before we merge.” She waved away the question on the tip of his tongue. “You know temporal mechanics, especially loops like my life is, was, will be, have never really been my strong suit. Suffice it to say, the younger me has to go through what she will, then go back in time and live up to the now point, masquerading as an Immortal to fit in. Then the timeline snaps me, us, whatever, back to the moment six years from now, at the moment I left.” She chuckled at the bemused confusion on his face. “Clear enough for you?”  
  
“Not by a long shot, but then again, I don’t think that Q thought you were going to take him that seriously when he’d suggested that you get in touch with humanity’s past,” Angel rejoined as he kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye on her until you get back,” he said with a grin and let himself out.


	2. Heading the Right Way

**Title** : Heading the Right Way  
 **Author** : Christy  
 **Rating** : FR15  
 **Disclaimer** : I do not own any of these series....I'm just borrowing the situation for a bit.  I may not own the series that Alissa filters through, but the concept of her is something I came up with  
 **Genre** : Gen/AU  
 **Fandoms** : Star Trek /Angel  
 **Series** : Personal Interludes #2  
 **Word Count** : 2733  
 **Timeline** : Right after “Hide and Q”  
 **Written For** : crossover100 Q prompts  
 **Prompt** : 17- Brown  
 **Summary** : Picard reflects on the _Enterprise’s_ second encounter with Q  
 **Author's Note** : While editing some of my other stories, I found some more detailed versions of my PI series, and decided to merge both writings into one chapter per, so please reread- this is a LOT more detailed than the initial first couple chapters, and hopefully you'll understand the background of Alissa a bit better.  
  
 _The Diary of Alisa Nicole Troi, Stardate 41590.5:  
  
I've been getting better at adjusting to living in the 24th century. And, though Captain Picard views him as a threat, I have to say that I thank Q for bringing me to that mockup of 21st century justice. It was kinda like a wake up call- I was now in the 24th century and I'd better go ahead and get used to it! But, I'm also enjoying Deanna trying to help me learn to get better at my telepathic shielding. I have to say that living in this century is very interesting so far. Yeah, I miss my classes and my teachers and my friends, but it's not like I can go back- all accounts have me AND my parents being found dead after the earthquake._  
  
She thought more about the coroner and police reports Deanna had given her about the results of the 1987 earthquake in California, and then went back to typing.  
  
 _But, one curious thing, though. At the same time, the reports state that witnesses saw a flash of light and when they went over to investigate, they found my body. Up to that point, they thought I'd survived. But, with all the lights in the area busted out because of the severe tremors, how did the flash happen?_  
  
*******  
  
Picard was reviewing the information on the crisis at Quandra Sigma III when he was notified by the helm of a full stop due to a barrier in their path. A flash of light later, and a three headed serpent appeared to the right of them.   
  
“Humans! I would have thought by now that you would have scampered back to your own little star system.”  
  
Picard addressed the being. “If this is Q I am addressing, we are on a mission of rescue to a group of badly injured-“  
  
But Q interrupted him. “We of the Q have studied our recent contact with you and are impressed. We have much to discuss, including the realization of your most impossible dreams.”  
  
“However intriguing that may be, Q, we are in the midst of an urgent journey. Once that is completed, then perhaps…” Picard countered.  
  
“You will abandon that mission, Captain. My business with you takes precedence. If my magnificence blinds you, perhaps something more familiar,” Q said, and in a flash, he appeared as they had first met him, clothed in the uniform of a Starfleet Admiral.  
  
Picard tried to keep his temper in line, but Q was really stretching it at the moment. “Q, once this rescue is completed, I am prepared to listen carefully to whatever proposal you wish to make, and subject to its being acceptable-“  
  
Q looked incredulous. “Subject to your own foolish human values? Oh come, Picard, why do you distrust me so?”  
  
“Why? At our first meeting, you seized my vessel, you condemned all humans as savages, and brought a young lady whom we had rescued from the 20th century into a trial set in a 21st century post atomic court of horrors!”  
  
“And because of her and your successful handling of your Farpoint mission, the Q became interested in you! Do none of you understand your incredible good fortune? These are complaints of a closed mind, too accustomed to military privileges. But you, Riker, and I remember you well, what do you make of my offer?”  
  
“We don’t have time for these games,” Riker replied, about as fed up with Q’s machinations as his captain.  
  
“Games? Did someone say games? And, perchance, for interest’s sake, a _deadly_ game?” Q smirked. “To the game!”  
  
And with a snap of his fingers, Q and the entire bridge crew vanished from Picard’s sight, leaving him alone on the bridge.  
  
*****  
  
Riker looked around – Data, Tasha, Geordi and Worf were doing much the same thing. But his eyes darkened when he saw who else Q had brought along. Though, to her credit, Alissa was a strong willed young lady, much like Deanna, and only her eyes gave away how she really felt. He then looked over to the left and saw a command tent with Q lounging inside. He walked over, smiling at Q, though the being noticed it didn’t quite reach his eyes like it normally did.  
  
“A French army marshal. And a marshal outranks an admiral,” he said as he sat down.  
  
Q raised his glass. “Of course.” He waved his hands at the trappings around them. “All this taken from your captain’s fertile mind. Please, feel free to partake of the libations,” he said, indicating the glass by Riker.  
  
He looked over at the other five people. “And my people?”  
  
Q waved his hand. “Anything they’d like, of course.”  
  
*****  
  
Alissa had been in her quarters but, in a matter of minutes, had ended up on this foreign planet. She sipped her iced tea, wishing it was something stronger. And she had yet to discover why this odd alien seemed to like her so much. She was just a run of the mill American...or, she _had_ been before all this chaos with the earthquake and a way to the future. She shook of that train of thought that was sure to give her a headache in favor of trying to listen to what the Commander was saying.  
  
*****  
  
She ducked behind a rock, as dust covered as Geordi. Apparently, Q thought it would be great fun to have them in a life or death battle with pit bull faced aliens dressed as French Colonial soldiers. But, when she noticed Geordi had stopped firing, she turned around and jumped back away from Q.  
  
“Now, now, my dear, I’m not going to hurt you. But, don’t you think you should be with the rest of them?” he queried, and with a snap of his fingers, Alissa reappeared next to Riker, who glared at her, until Geordi flashed in next to her as well.  
  
“Data, where are they now,” he asked, then paled when Data turned around with Q’s face.  
  
“Be careful, Commander. You two had better be watchful, because they’re coming rapidly.”  
  
With the next flash of light, Tasha, Worf and young Wesley joined them, and they all soon discovered their phasers were gone.  
  
“Commander, they’re coming at us- and fast.” Tasha informed them.  
  
They tried to stay ahead of the aliens, but Wesley saw one coming at Alissa and pushed her out of the way, taking one of the swords in the gut.  
  
“NO!” Alissa cried, pushing the alien back. She turned around and saw another one advancing. “Commander, behind you!”  
  
Riker punched the alien, but more advanced at a steady pace. Q flashed in and whispered to him. “Use your powers. You have them like me.”  
  
Riker waved his hand and the aliens, as well as the crew, all disappeared in a flash of light, but Alissa remained. “Q, why didn’t she return with the others?”  
  
“Because I think I’m like you now, Commander,” she said as she snapped her fingers to change into normal 20th century garb. “But, I’d rather not be gone long. I’m sure Mother is worried about me.”  
  
Riker started at her statement. “Do you realize what you just said? You’ve never called Deanna that before.”  
  
She shrugged. “Well, nearly getting killed kinda has a way of putting things in perspective.”  
  
*****  
  
When Riker and Alissa returned to the ship, Picard asked to see them both in his ready room.  
  
“Commander, I will speak with you first. Q has obviously given you both the powers of the Q, but you don’t have to use them. He will be forced to take them back once he finds you don't need them.”  
  
The Commander nodded. “I wasn’t planning on accepting his gift anyway. I promise not to use it, sir.”  
  
“Dismissed.” After Riker left, Picard sat down next to Alissa on the couch. “Now, Alissa, I understand that you have been through a lot since we first found you.”  
  
“And now this,” she answered, crestfallen.  
  
“Yes, but I don’t blame you for any of this. This Q entity likes to test us, and apparently decided to test you as well. Now, since you’re not a Starfleet officer, I cannot technically hold you to the same orders I gave Commander Riker, but I would ask that if you could try and do it to the best of your ability, do you think you could?”  
  
“I’ll try, sir.”  
  
“All right then. I’ll let you get back to your Counselor Troi's quarters.”  
  
*****  
  
But when the _Enterprise_ arrived at the planet, they found out that one of the dead was a young child that they might have been able to get to in time, if not for Q. Dr. Crusher, not knowing of Riker’s promise, demanded to know why he didn’t do something.  
  
He turned away, angry and hurt. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I promised.”  
  
*****  
  
Once back on the bridge, Commander Riker asked that all the senior staff, with the additions of Wesley and Alissa, be assembled. “I thank you all for being here.”  
  
“Number One, I **allowed** you to call this meeting,” Picard reminded him gently.  
  
“I’m still the same Will Riker you’ve always known, but I wanted to give something back to you all. Wesley, you’ve always wished you were older,” he said, waving his hand and Wesley was suddenly 25.  
  
He turned to Data. “Data,” he said with a smile.  
  
“Ah, no sir. I have no wish to be human yet,” Data told him hesitantly.  
  
“Geordi,” he grinned, as he walked over and waved his hands in front of his friend’s eyes, then removed the visor to reveal brown eyes, glancing around at everything.  
  
Geordi smiled at Tasha. “You’re more beautiful than I imagined.” He glanced over at Alissa. “You’re turning into a real beauty, my dear.” He turned back to Riker. “I’m glad for this chance, but I wouldn’t like who I’d have to thank. Make me back the way I was.”  
  
“Yeah, Commander. Could I be myself again?” Wes asked.  
  
Riker sighed, but did as he was asked.  
  
“My brother and sister, these degenerates know not of your generosity. Let us pray for understanding and compassion,” Q intoned from the side, clad in a monk’s habit.  
  
“Let us do no such damn thing!” Picard ordered. “Look at you, Q. Do you have no identity of your own?”  
  
“I forgive you your blasphemy,” Q spat back.  
  
Riker looked from Q to Picard and back again, understanding dawning on his face.  
  
“No, it’s not that I don’t need the crew; I don’t need these powers! Q, leave me to be a mere human.”  
  
Q sighed. “Oh, very well.”  
  
“But, what about me?” Alissa piped up from next to Beverly.  
  
Q walked over, pushing the cowl back from his head as he came to stand in front of her. “Ah, but you see, you can’t give them back.”  
  
This bald statement had her shooting up in outrage. “Why not?” she demanded, hands on hips.  
  
“Why, because the Continuum is very intrigued by you, my dear. We want to see how a twentieth century girl will deal with twenty-fourth century powers, as it were, though of course we of the Q are millennia older than that.”  
  
Alissa burst into tears and began punching Q. “It’s not right! I don’t want these powers! Why couldn’t I be back at home and my parents be alive and all this be just a bad dream? I don’t want to live in this time! I want to go home!”  
  
“Oh, you’ll get plenty of chances to do that, once we’ve practiced a little,” Q explained calmly, allowing all her abuse.  
  
“Q, what do you mean by that?” Picard demanded.  
  
“Well, we can’t have her running amuck with her new powers, now, can we? We’ll have a mentor for her- me! I’ll come by every month or so-“  
  
“Out of the question. Every four months,” Picard countered.  
  
“Whatever. I’ll be by to train her,” he said, vanishing, only to reappear once more. “Three months.”  
  
“Fine,” Picard said tersely.  
  
“Good! I knew you’d agree!”  
  
******  
  
Jean-Luc Picard retreated to his quarters, setting his shower for upper body massage before getting in. He never told any of his crew, being a very private man, but some of his better solutions to thorny problems tended to come to him in the shower. And this current problem rolling around in his head was a very problematic issue indeed. In fact, he would have asked Counselor Troi for her advice on the matter, but she was currently dealing with her own version of the aftermath. And he doubted that any of his crew was going to be spared from the results no matter what decision he ended up making. He steadied himself against the side of the shower and just let the day’s events run through his head again. Jean-Luc had known his crew could handle Q and whatever he threw at them; that was why they’d spent four years training at the Academy., but then Q had brought Alissa into the mix. Knowing that her family was all dead from the 1987 earthquake, and knowing they couldn’t send her back in any case, Deanna had adopted her, both to give the child some closure but also so the counselor could teach her Betazoid telepathic techniques. If not for direct orders from Starfleet, the child wouldn’t have been on his ship at all, but there was nothing Picard could do about it now, especially since the documents Starfleet had sent him included the newspaper photo that clearly showed him on Earth with Alissa in his arms. Q had up and dropped her in the middle of that manufactured war zone with powers she had no concept of, let alone truly know how to use. Picard’s thoughts flashed back to the look on her face when, after taking back the powers from Riker when he’d demanded it, Q had told her that the Continuum wanted to see how she’d deal with being a Q. Not to mention his own look of horror when Q had then announced he’d be popping in from time to time to tutor his young charge in the ways of the Q.  
  
He had just put on a robe when the con notified him that he had a priority message incoming from Starfleet Command. “Patch it through to my quarters,” he ordered, then nodded when the admiral’s face appeared on screen.  
  
“Jean-Luc, is there anything to add to your most recent reports?”  
  
“Yes sir. The being known as Q has given Alissa Troi powers similar to his own. He has expressed interest in instructing her in what he thinks she needs to know about these powers. My suggestion, Admiral, is to either send just Alissa or both her and Deanna Troi back to Betazed, so that the child might learn more about controlling her telepathy and mayhap these new powers as well,” the captain informed him, but could tell that his suggestion wasn’t going over so well with the higher ranking man.  
  
“No, Captain. You need the Counselor and Alissa Troi needs someone there to temper any erratic behavior this Q might have. Keep an eye on her, Jean-Luc. That’s all you can truly do with a teenager. Chase out.”  
  
****  
  
Admiral Chase turned around when he heard his wife walk in. “So, how did it go?” she asked.  
  
He sighed as he gathered her close, the sunset glinting off of her brunette hair, cut shorter again. He noticed she seemed to prefer it shorter this century. “As well as can be expected, I suppose. She has to stay on the _Enterprise_ \- at least that’s what her older self said had to happen. I hate feeling like a 24th century version of the Powers, Cordelia, but what other choice do we have right now? The older one can’t return to the timeline until the younger one has put all the pieces together.”  
  
Cordelia kissed his forehead. “Which is why she left you, me, Willow and Spike in charge of pushing people in the right direction until it has worked out, Angel. Now come to dinner before it gets cold.”


	3. The Mighty Will Fall

**Title** : The Mighty Will Fall  
 **Author** : Christy  
 **Rating** : FR15  
 **Disclaimer** : I do not own any of these series....I'm just borrowing the situation for a bit.  I may not own the series that Alissa filters through, but the concept of her is something I came up with  
 **Genre** : Gen/AU  
 **Fandoms** : Star Trek /Angel  
 **Series** : Personal Interludes #3  
 **Word Count** : 1567  
 **Timeline** : During “Deja Q”  
 **Written For** : crossover100 Q prompts  
 **Prompt** : 59- Food  
 **Summary** : The _Enterprise_ deals with the fallout from Bre’el IV and Q popping in without his powers  
  
  
Alissa sneered from the other side of the barrier holding Q in a cell. “Happy with yourself now? You decided to play around with the lives of all the people down there for kicks?”  
  
Q sneered back. “If it was about that miserable little planet, don’t you think I would have told Picard about it by now? Besides, you even told him yourself when he asked- I’m not lying about being stripped of my powers.”  
  
She mentally agreed with her mentor on that, but wasn’t about to admit it. “That’s not the only thing you were stripped of- why the hell did you have to show up on the bridge naked?”  
  
Q laughed loud and long at her question. “Don’t tell me you still ascribe to that outdated human viewpoint on nudity! You’re a Q now; we don’t care about mundane things like that.”  
  
She spared him a speaking glance as she continued to pace in front of the cell. “Well, you might want to think about that, now that our positions are reversed, though I would give anything to go back to the way things were when they first rescued me two years ago.”  
  
“I don’t see why- we made you a better being by giving you these powers. Maybe if you really wanted to learn more about what all humanity has been, and _trust_ me, there’s plenty of interesting, hot things for you to see, you should get in touch with what they’ve done in their past,” Q suggested as the doors opened to reveal Captain Picard and Commander Data.  
  
“Ah, Cadet Troi. I was hoping you would still be here. I have a task for you, but first I have a question for Q. We were recently probed with Berthold radiation. What do you know about this?”  
  
“Picard, I have no idea- truly. A couple of hours ago, I felt weak. All the strength was oozing out of me; I lost consciousness.”  
  
Alissa glanced over at the Captain, then off his nod snapped “You just fell asleep.”  
  
“Oh, how do you manage to deal with that on a daily basis?” he moaned.  
  
She sighed. “You get used to it, I guess.”  
  
“Your first experience with sleep aside, Q, Commander Data and the cadet here will be escorting you down to Engineering. If your offer to help this crew was genuine, then here’s your chance to prove it,” Picard told him as he released the forcefield. Holding Alissa back, he said, “I expect you to keep an eye on Q while Commander Data is there for senority. If he can help us with this trouble, it would be good.”  
  
“Sir, why not have me fix it?” she asked, having been wondering about that all day.  
  
“Well, there are a few reasons. One of which is that when they tested you during the entrance competition exams, your reaction was typically to go off of your human instincts, not the Q. Secondly, as I’m sure Admiral Hahn told you when you were admitted, you having these powers is a closely kept secret in Starfleet, no matter how much we might like to use it every time we could. This crew, yourself included, needs to understand that it is through adversity and trying to solve problems rather than going for the easy solution, that makes a better person at the end of the day. That being said, you’re also only 18 and still have a long way to go. Just continue with your studies at the Academy; in the meantime, I need you to use those Engineering classes Professor Chapman has been teaching you this year to help Commander LaForge. Dismissed.”  
  
****  
  
Alissa stood up and stretched. They’d been working on this problem for three hours now and so far, no real ideas on how to keep the satellite from falling to the planet. Just then, Q exclaimed in pain, clear enough for Alissa to pick up on with her telepathy.  
  
“What is it, Q?” she grumbled. It wasn’t about him personally at this point- he’d offered a couple of good points, even if they would only be valid if she or he had been able to use their powers. It was just that spatial physics was nowhere near her strong suit, she was hungry, tired and hated having to babysit Q.  
  
“My back is hurting. What’s the right word? Ow?”  
  
Data and Geordi looked at each other, then back at Q. “Yeah, ow works.”  
  
“Ah, I can’t stand up!”  
  
Alissa rolled her eyes at Q’s melodrama as Geordi called for medical assistance. Dr Crusher had just finished up with the diagnosis and treatment for Q’s muscle spasm when he said ow again.  
  
“What is it this time?” Alissa groused.  
  
“My stomach hurts- and it’s making noises,” he whined.  
  
She just sighed, grabbed his arm and started hauling him towards 10 Forward.  
  
****  
  
The three of them showed up to the sound of Data trying to explain to Q about human eating preferences. Alissa just tuned the men out as she asked for hot red curry panag chicken and a Madras. _Thank god drinking age is 18 around here! I’m gonna need it with Q around,_ she thought as she overheard Q order 10 chocolate sundaes. “Ten? Q, are you insane?”  
  
“Well, I’m newly human, I don’t know what I like yet and I must be very hungry,” he explained calmly.  
  
Alissa just shrugged then grinned when she saw Guinan coming in. Guinan had been one of the ones that, in the early days of Alissa being on the _Enterprise_ , had helped her cope with her new powers, so Alissa considered her a dear friend. Q noticed her too and grumbled about not looking forward to this.  
  
“I heard the Continuum finally got tired of you,” Guinan said with a grin.  
  
“A minor setback, I assure you. I like to think of it as a significant career change,” Q countered.  
  
“Captain Picard and many of the crew are not yet convinced Q is truly human,” Data commented.  
  
“Really?” Guinan asked and Alissa had a flash of what she had planned moments before Guinan stabbed Q in the hand.  
  
Alissa didn’t know whether to wince at Q’s outraged cry of pain or laugh at the look on his face as he glared at Guinan.  
  
“This is a dangerous creature you have here. Why Picard would make her a member of the crew and not me-“  
  
“Probably because she helps out around here and doesn’t try and belittle or talk down to everyone,” Alissa interrupted.  
  
“Oh, so now you have my protégé singing your praises as well. What next- maybe I should take up missionary work,” Q sniped.  
  
“Wonderful idea,” Alissa snapped, taking her food and stalking over to a table by the windows.  
  
Q declined his sundaes in disgust and had gone to sit down and pout when the Calamarain came through the window and began attaching themselves to him. He struggled to get rid of the forcefield and Data scrambled to try and help while Alissa called the bridge to tell them what was happening.  
  
****  
  
Alissa tapped her foot as the turbolift descended to Engineering again. “You knew what would happen after the Continuum kicked you out, Q. And don’t try to give me this bullshit about the compassion of humanity, you opportunistic bastard,” she fumed, storming out and to her station. Q butted heads with Geordi before begrudgingly doing what he was told, but Alissa had been so busy trying to monitor the readouts and calibrations, she didn’t realize the Calamarain had tried to attack again until she heard Data’s body thud to the floor.  
  
Once in Sickbay, she tried to help but about bit Q’s head off when he showed up to see how Data was doing.  
  
“Cadet Troi, I believe you’ve been on duty for far over your 12 hour limit. Take time off to shower and get some sleep,” Picard said. “That’s an order.”  
  
“Yes sir.”  
  
****  
  
If she hadn’t been on the bridge when it had happened, Alissa wasn’t sure she would have even believed it. There was Commander Data, sitting at his post, laughing hysterically. And she even picked up on it, which meant that what Q had gifted him with was the real thing. Now she was on her com in her room, talking to her roommate back at the Academy. The _Enterprise_ was due to rendezvous with the _Saratoga_ in a few hours so that Alissa could get back to San Francisco in time for the winter session. Willow had just been telling her about two of the cadets, a Harry Kim and Be’Lana Torres when Alissa caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye and paused the feed. She turned around, prepared to thank Q for his gift to Data, but it was a different one- a blonde this time.  
  
“Oh, I do see what has him so fascinated,” he said, circling her and eyeing her vintage 90s clothes.  
  
“What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded.  
  
“Oh, just how Q told me how important you were. I didn’t believe it until I could see it for myself. Oh, Q is going to have kittens when she hears about this,” he said with a chuckle.  
  
“Hey,” she called before he could leave. “Why not have names like everyone else, instead of all being Q?”  
  
“Why not?” he countered. “We know who everyone is..you will too, eventually,” he replied with a grin as he vanished.  
  
Turning back to her com, she apologized to Willow and tried to catch up on what she’d missed by not staying on Earth for the session break.


End file.
